Green lungs save lives

Want to live longer? Pester your city major or other politicians, town planners, etc., to increase green lungs (parks, forests, etc). According to a study by Dr Richard Mitchell from Glasgow University, and Dr Frank Popham, from the University of St Andrews, reported in Lancet as well as reported in other studies, contact with green spaces also helped reduce blood pressure and stress levels, perhaps even promoting faster healing after surgery. Green spaces, they say, are great stress busters.

Dr Terry Hartig, from the Institute for Housing and Urban Research at Uppsala University in Sweden, wrote: "This study offers valuable evidence that green space does more than 'pretty up' the neighbourhood - it appears to have real effects on health inequality, of a kind that politicians and health authorities should take seriously."